As MLB’s offseason kicks into gear, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on today:
1. Angels Won’t Trade Ohtani, But What Will They Do?
Few teams around baseball face as much uncertainty this offseason as the Angels do. Owner Arte Moreno is exploring a sale of the team, and rumors of Shohei Ohtani being traded this offseason have swirled practically since the moment the trade deadline passed. Yesterday GM Perry Minasian announced that the team would not be fielding offers on Ohtani and he would remain with the team through Opening Day. With Ohtani set to test the free agent market after the 2023 season, the Angels will no doubt try to remain competitive, but a 73-89 showing in 2022 leaves Anaheim with a lot of work to do this offseason. Minasian notes that multi-year deals are on the table in spite of the club’s recent tendency toward one year agreements in previous offseasons, though it’s fair to wonder if Moreno would make major, long-term additions to a club’s payroll in the months running up to a sale. Starting pitching isn’t quite as big of a need as it has been in previous years due to the emergence of youngsters like Patrick Sandoval and Reid Detmers, but another arm for the middle of the rotation likely ought to still be a priority. Perhaps the biggest need the Angels will have to address this offseason if they want to compete in 2023 is the bullpen, where Ryan Tepera and Aaron Loup disappointed last year, and closer Raisel Iglesias was moved to the Braves at the trade deadline. Almost as important is addressing the infield; Luis Rengifo looked like a serviceable regular in 2022, but both David Fletcher and Jared Walsh struggled in 2023, and Anthony Rendon’s injury woes in recent seasons leave third base up in the air as well. A righty-hitting complement to Walsh and a shortstop-capable bat could be other sensible additions to the Angels offseason shopping list.
2. Senga’s Market Begins To Develop
While the vast majority of free agency is still tied up in their club’s exclusive negotiating window, international free agent Koudai Senga faces no such restrictions, and a potential suitor has already emerged: the Chicago Cubs. NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmeyer talked with Senga’s agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, who noted the Cubs had been in contact with him about Senga and that Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki, another Wolfe client, has “loved” his experience in Chicago thus far. Rumors about the Cubs having interest in Senga have percolated for months, and with plenty of space available in the rotation alongside Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele, and Kyle Hendricks, they may be an attractive destination for Senga.
3. Options, Qualifying Offer Deadline Looms
As Mark Polishuk noted in his offseason preview earlier this week, the deadline for option decisions, as well as for teams to extend the Qualifying Offer to their pending free agents, is this Thursday, November 10th. Many option decisions have already been made, with Anthony Rizzo and Jean Segura among those who have most recently hit the free agent market officially. More option decisions remain, however. One particularly interesting example is James Paxton, whose dilemma Anthony Franco discussed yesterday. Anthony also previewed the upcoming QO decisions last week, with the likes of Nathan Eovaldi and Mitch Haniger among the most interesting borderline cases. For a refresher on what draft picks are at stake with regards to the QO, you can check out Tim Dierkes’s post on the matter.
Not-So-Bold Prediction:
The Angels stubbornly hold on to Ohtani despite having no realistic hope of competing next year, he gets injured prior to the trade deadline, and they get nothing but a 2nd or 3rd round comp pick for arguably the greatest player of all time when he signs with the Dodgers in free agency.
He’s re-signing with the Angels, y’all are wishful thinkers. This is like the trout thing all over again where all the mouth breathers were certain he was a Philly or Yankee.
I’m an Orioles fan, not a Dodgers fan. I’m simply being realistic and objective. Ohtani wants to win and the Angels aren’t going to be able to offer him that before the Dodgers come calling with a $400 million dollar contract offer.
Honestly there is only one good team in the American League, the Astros. They have no holes, lineup, rotation and bullpen are all good. Four WS in 6 years should attest to that. They lost Springer, Correa, and Cole and are better today than they have been in the past. No team in the AL is remotely close.
BK – I would agree with you, however, Ohtani has been very vocal about his disappointment with losing every year. Unless Moreno drastically changes his business model or the team sells extraordinarily fast, we will lose Ohtani in free agency. Trout is a home grown player so it’s a different situation all together.
I’m not saying Trout doesn’t want to win…he does. But Trout has a basis for loyalty to the Angels that Ohtani doesn’t have.
he says he wants to win and play for a contender so why would he play for the Angels if they are not contenders? The package the Angels could get for him would make them contenders so why pretend he will sign with the Angels?
Angels Could trade Ohtani at the Trading-deadline next year
They could but his value is at a all time high right now. The package they get for him would be one of the best ever.
Never know a new Angel owner Might want to trade Ohtani for Prospects or Pick up some key Free agents convince Ohtani to stay
Ohtani could pull an Aroldis Chapman. Trade him for 4 prospects and sign back with the team that traded him.
The nationals are a substantially less valuable asset and the type of buyers for each tranches is different. Nationals don’t outright own their own TV rights, it’s a significantly smaller media market and they’re not on the precipicios of developing the real estate around the land.
The angels are going to get a mega dollar owner and there is just no way they don’t find a way to keep Sho as their first act.
Maybe…but its plausible that this “mega dollar owner” realizes the franchise is pretty barren of overall talent necessary to compete in the AL West and also realizes that while he’s pretty much going to play out the contract with Trout, his most valuable trade asset is Ohtani who could immediately bring back a boat load of potential young, cheap talent and put the franchise right back in line to not just compete but challenge in the next 2-3 years……
Yeah right Mr. fortuneteller…LOL
What smart GM would want Shohei? That GM would not only deplete their farm system but also pay HUGE money to keep him on the team before he hits free agency next year.
Ohtani is arguably the Angels biggest asset. No company is going to get rid of their biggest asset prior to a sale. It’s shocking to me how many people don’t understand this.
Keeping Ohtani is absolutely the right move. Let him and the new owner get together and talk about the future of the franchise. The new owner is entitled to the opportunity to extend him.
How this is not obvious is beyond me.
Nationals traded their asset. Soto!
But can Soto pitch
See: Soto, Juan
Good point. But Ohtani loves Anaheim, chose Anaheim, and likes the team and the players. Ohtani doesn’t like losing. The new owner has until July to convince him he can win.
Soto wasn’t going to sign with Washington…period.
Soto liked Washington, he just didn’t like losing.
This doesnt back up your original thought. In fact, you strayed away from it. Just a month ago, Shohei also expressed his anger with the losing season the angels had. Google it!
Soto was always going to follow the money. He’s still going to follow the money,
Ohtani will likely sign with the Dodgers, but as long as the Angels have a chance to extend him, they absolutely should try.
Halo – As we discussed on the other article, I don’t think the team will be sold by July. I doubt Moreno would allow a potential buyer to have a meeting with Ohtani to discuss his vision. I think time is too short and Ohtani wants to win.
Soto never owned a home in the DC area. Ohtani owns a home in OC. To me that is a sign they want to be there long term. Doesn’t mean Ohtani stays with the Angels though. Could go to Dodgers.
Soto turned down two offers from the Nationals and the stuff coming from his agent made it sound like he felt he was being low-balled.
The Nationals were just about the worst team in baseball with Soto being the only real star.
The Angels are bad because of a lack of depth, but have multiple big name players on Ohtani, Trout, Rendon. Ward is on the verge of making himself into a star if he has another 135 OPS+ season in 2023. They also have a solid and young starting pitching rotation core with Ohtani, Sandoval, Dietmers, and Suarez.
They do need a SS, another starting pitcher, and big time help in the pen.
With their financial resources, there is no reason that the Angels cannot contend. Right now from a CBT standpoint, the Angels have about $160 million on the books. That leaves them $60 million plus to spend while still staying under the luxury tax threshold. That seems like enough to bring in the pieces they need.
If the Padres can do it with much less revenue, so can the Angels.
I said it was good point. Ohtani is extendable, Soto was not. It’s a big difference.
If the team is not sold by July, and the Angels are not competitive, the price for Ohtani is not going down. The Angels will be the king of the sellers market.
Pads Fan… that’s a great post. That’s one of the best, most accurate posts by a non-Angels fan I’ve read.
It’s funny that you keep posting this when it literally just happened 3 months ago with the Nats and Soto, who also had more team control remaining.
You’re way over-extending what you think is obvious.
The first issue is that you have a time constraint. By maybe March, rosters will be substantially finalized. That’s the first step in de-valuing Ohtani. The second devaluation is one the season starts (no QO). And then he gets incrementally devalued every day. Your window to sell the team is only 4 months.
The second issue is that you assume the new owner would want to pay the gazillion $$$ required to extend Ohtani. You have no way of knowing that. If the new owner is like Cohen, then all is well, and they can blow past But you are probably more likely to get an owner who wants a long-term sustainable model, and keeping Ohtani, instead of getting some good prospects, will not be a selling point.
If I was buying the Nationals, I’d prefer a last place team with some building blocks, than a last place team with Soto.
Joe, I don’t agree with the people who say Ohtani will lose value. More teams will be bidding, and could you imagine what the Yankees will offer if they are fighting for a bye?
Mets must have talks with the Angels
Haven’t we’ve gone over this Ohtani/Trout_Angels scenario enough already and it’s only November 8th.
If the Angels don’t do a rebuild while they can get top value for Ohtani, Trout and Rendon, we should ignore them until there is new ownership. They are the dumbest organization in MLB.
That window is already shut. They are not getting “top value” for Trout, now that he has that contract and a bad back. Rendon at best is a bad contract swap, and Ohtani has only one year on his contract, so he is a rental. Angels have to hope all are healthy in 24. That’s unfortunately their best hope.
The Angels seem snake-bit at 3B. Zack Cozart two years ago and Rendon now. Often injured and more time on the IL than the active roster, It’s weird.
The Angels haven’t had a solid/healthy/dependable true third baseman since Troy Glaus. There were a couple utility-players who did well for a few years here and there. A couple more names of players who held promise that didn’t pan out—Dallas Macpherson and Brandon Wood.
Dallas McPherson!!! That just triggered the hell out of me lol 3rd baseman of the future couldn’t hit couldn’t field couldn’t produce past minors
As noted by many, the Angels don’t have depth. It takes a 40-man roster to navigate a 162 game season and the Angels, while slowly building, are woefully lacking. Their best hope for retaining Ohtani is if core players have healthy seasons. If so, they can compete for a WC and perhaps keep Ohtani. Alas, recent history suggests this is a really, really, really big ask.
Trout was foolish to re-sign in Anaheim. Even if he couldn’t get a dollar more elsewhere, which is doubtful, he had to know there wasn’t a realistic path to victory in Anaheim. Hopeful paths but not realistic ones. Whether by trade or by free agency Ohtani is gone. He came here to win and be the best not to extend some type of hometown loyalty to any given franchise.
I would bet that at least 10 teams have been in contact with Senga’s agent. I doubt he will sign quickly. He is going to get more than a few offers.
I like this new feature.
I am not sure how long it will be until the Angels will make post season. Seattle and Houston will be good for awhile that last WC spot will be tough when they play those and the As. They need to build up the minors and let them develop. If the Angels don’t trade Ohtani they will get a QO from him and that is it. He isn’t signing back there because he wants a ring. He has more of a chance with Seattle or Houston. He should come to Seattle like he should have in the first place.
Halo what is hard to understand that he is not signing back there. Do you think he likes the beach or the chance to win a ring. How many years do you think it will be until you have a realistic chance for post season ? You don’t have to but should be able to see you are way behind and don’t have the minor league system to change it. Trading Ohtani will be a way to do it. I don’t think a new owner will convince him to stay. He can see how far behind you are. Like what was said above he loses value every day you keep him and praying he will stay. You might get a little more at the deadline but he has shoulder trouble a week into the season and will be out for the season. How much value does he have then? That supplemental pick between 1st and 2nd isn’t looking good and the new owner is going to fire people because they should have been smarter than to keep him. It is all pretty clear at least to the non objective on here. I also think if you wait to long with Senga getting posted Ohtani loses value until he is signed. Senga looks like a better deal no draft picks and no $400mill contract. The 6 or so prospects will possibly out weigh the difference between him and Senga.